Elimination of De-Salting Pickle Packers International, October 17, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Pickle Shrinkage, Expansion and Elimination of De-Salting

Pickle Packers International, October 17, 2018 Nashville, TN

Ron Buescher

Arkansas Food Innovation Center, Pickle Improvement Center, John Demo Consulting, Inc.

Presentation Subjects

• Why do cucumbers shrink

in brine?

• Factors affecting shrink:

(weight, volume)

• Reversible shrinkage
• Restrictions to expansion
• Damages that cause

irreversible shrinkage

• Elimination of de-salting

Irreversible- Brine Enters, Membranes Destroyed, Cells are Killed; Slightly Shrivelled Cell Walls and Middle Lamella are Entirely Responsible for Pickle Structure.

Brine causes water to move out of cucumber cells by osmosis. When cell membranes are destroyed movement of substances in and out

• f cells is by diffusion.

Membranes destroyed

Shrinkage is caused by dehydration- loss of water from cells and cell walls

Effect of brining on cucumber cell membranes and contents

Fresh Plasmolysis, loss of turgidity Membranes destroyed

Protoplasm

Cell wall

Cell walls (X 4500) of cucumbers before and after brining: note wrinkles and shriveling caused by exposure to fermentation brine = dehydration. Before After

Days in Brine Cucumber respiration rapidly increases when submerged in fermentation brine, then it gradually declines as membranes rupture.

General pattern of shrinkage of cucumber (3A) weight and volume caused by brine (initially 14% salt that equilibrated to 6%, (Cathy Hamilton)

2 4 6 8 10 12 10 20 30 40 50 60

wt vol Days after brining % Loss

Effect of NaCl concentration on shrinkage and expansion of 3A cucumbers (Jeff Ross)

18.0 8.5 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.7 21.0 11.0 6.0 4.5 3.0 2.5

5 10 15 20 25 2 4 6 8 10 12

wt vol. Equilibrated NaCl (%)

%

Loss

• Avg. of 50 individually measured fruits; cucumbers initially placed in 26% NaCl

Reversibility of Shrinkage 13% NaCl (2613%) Desalted to 1% NaCl

Calcium hinders expansion of processed pickles (Jeff Ross)

5.4 5.3 5.5 1 2.5 3.5 0.5 1.8 2.3 7.8 8.8 8.6 1 2.4 4.2 0.7 2.2 3.2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0.35 0.7 0.35 0.7 0.35 0.7

wt vol Brine Stock

NaCl adjusted to provide ionic strength equal to 6.5% NaCl of brine stock

De-salted (3.2%) Packed (2.5% NaCl) % CaCl2 in Fermentation Brine (3A cucumbers)

% Loss

Alum added during de-salting reduces pickle expansion: wt and vol increases after processing; Al+++ reduces amount of gain (Jeff Ross).

6.5 7.4 8.4 8.4 8.4 9 9.8 9.8 5.7 6.2 6.5 6.5 7.4 7.7 8 8

2 4 6 8 10 12 4 12 24 4 12 24

No alum Alum (0.16% Al sulfate) (0 = salt stock gain after de-salting; 4, 12, 24 are weeks in process brine)

% Gain

wt vol

Irreversible shrinkage: Physical damage (internal) reduces the ability of pickles to plump.

• Drops, bumps, collisions, compressions
• Dr. Dale Marshall (1976) demonstrated that drops of 2.5 ft or many low-

magnitude drops increased the frequency of internal fractures and increased lens and balloon bloating.

• Compression against head boards caused by buoyancy pressure:

no damage caused by hydrostatic pressure

• Dr. Henry Fleming et al. (1977) effect of brine depth on physical

properties

• Flexible restraining covers for tanks were demonstrated to be an

alternative to rigid hold down materials.

• Drs. Humphries, Fleming (1991), needed about 10 inches of water or

brine to counter buoyancy force

• Handling of brine stock- unloading tanks, transport, process

tanks, finish processing  many more drops, bumps, collisions, compressions

Model of Buoyancy Force as Affected by Tank Height and Difference in Density Between Cucumbers and Brine: John Demo, John Demo Consulting

Hidden green stock damages that affect shrinkage/plumping; No evidence of interior damage from exterior. Bruised ends Fractured end Split carpel and crushed endocarp Crushed endocarp

Internal damage adversely affects expansion during processing; damage may occur during all operations

Summary: Pickle Shrinkage and Expansion

• Shrinkage of volume is greater than shrinkage of weight

(6% salt solution weighs 4.1% more than water).

• Density= mass (wt)/volume increases (~0.945 to 1.045).
• Shrinkage and expansion are dependent on salt

concentration.

• Calcium in fermentation brine reduces expansion during

processing.

• Alum added during de-salting reduces expansion during

and after processing.

• NaCl induced shrinkage is generally reversible (less than

3% after processing); however, shrinkage of physically injured pickles is irreversible.

Waste-salt-water reduction

• Option 1: Use pickles without de-salting. Why can’t pickles be

used without de-salting?

• Calcium chloride in fermentation brine allowed substantial reduction of

NaCl to maintain brine stock quality along with reduced de-salting (1978-79).

• Option 2: Use de-salt water in finished products such as fresh
• pack. Why can’t de-salt water be used?

A Few Examples of No De-salting and Use of Spent Brine

• Genuine dills- used to be the most favored pickle
• Bubbies Pickles- brine contains lactic acid bacteria
• Bag in Box Fermentation and Storage
• Pickle Pak Science 2002
• Henry Fleming, Humphries, McFeeters- Process ready; consumer ready
• Suzanne Johanningsmeier, Thompson, Fleming-
• Favorable flavor, no objections to lactic acid taste of bag-in-box

fermented pickles

• Also, spent brine was used as process brine for fresh pack pickles and

the sensory panel liked the flavor/taste as well as pickles acidified with vinegar.

Reasons Given for De-salting

• Traditional procedure to reduce excessive amount of salt
• Reduce tank flavors/tastes (“Tanking”)
• Customers don’t like lactic acid taste
• Plumping of salt stock
• Process for adding alum
• Others reasons??

Potential methods to use spent or de-salt brines for process brine

• Use clean cucumbers and/or clean fermentation/storage

environment such as Bag-in-Box or sauerkraut tanks.

• Filtration of spent salt stock brines or de-salt brines: remove

insoluble and flavor substances.

• Activated charcoal or other absorbents of flavor/taste substances
• Ultrafiltration
• Heat and sparge brines to remove volatiles
• Others??

Spent fermentation brine before and after filtering Filtered Tank Brine Tank Brine

Comments? Questions?